Note: The following information is related to the "That's
IT!" feature in this issue. We were not able to include it in the print
version of Rensselaer magazine because of deadline considerations

Tech Park Gaming
Company Lauded

"The
winners of the festival showcased today's brightest independent games featuring
the finest innovative design and technical achievement"

Vicarious Visions, an Internet
and video game development company based in the Rensselaer Technology Park and
founded by Karthik Bala '97 in 1994, announced that Terminus, the company's flagship
game, was selected for two prizes in the first annual Independent Games Festival
held in San Jose, Calif. Vicarious Visions took home the Programming and Audio
Awards ($1,000 purse each) for their Windows 95/98 project. Nearly 100 international
entries were submitted.
As a contest finalist, Terminus was exhibited on the show floor at
the Game Developers Conference, March 16-18 in San Jose, Calif. Miller Freeman
Game Group and the Gathering of Developers cosponsored the festival. "The winners
of the festival showcased today's brightest independent games featuring the finest
innovative design and technical achievement," said Alex Dunne, chairman of the
event and editorial director of Miller Freeman Game Group's Game Developer magazine
and Gamasutra.com. "All of the nearly 100 submissions we received truly embodied
the essence of what the Independent Games Festival was all about, that game development
can truly be considered an art form." "The Indie Games Festival was extremely
successful from the level of innovation, talent, and spirit exhibited to the newfound
attention paid to the developers," said Mike Wilson, CEO of Gathering of Developers. Terminus,
an online multiplayer game, spans the solar system with 18 space stations and
hundreds of characters, some human, some computer-generated. Terminus also interweaves
computer-generated narrative that adds another dimension to the game. Vicarious
Visions grew from a Rensselaer Incubator company, begun when Bala was an undergrad,
and moved to its current location in the Tech Park in December. It currently employs
15 people, including four Rensselaer graduates and two undergrads. To see Terminus
go to: www.vvisions.com/terminus.